• It is not evolutionary/darwinian capitalism, which we would define as unrestrained capitalism. Biblical Capitalism would contain laws that protect property rights, protect the rule of law, enforce contracts, protect against fraud and collusion, etc.
• It is not libertarianism. Libertarianism is related to evolutionary capitalism in that it is relatively unrestrained. The reason that libertarianism is not biblical is because one does not have the right to do wrong. There are certain businesses, such as abortion clinics, that do not have a fundamental moral right to exist.
• It is not socialistic capitalism. In general, any law that interferes with free enterprise, except for certain broad limitations to protect the public interest, is not biblical. The role of government should be to encourage free enterprise—not favoring certain enterprises over others unless there is (a) a clear moral mandate or (b) a systemic risk, that is, a risk to the whole economy (as opposed to a risk to a company or industry or locale). Any distortion of free enterprise outside of these parameters—no matter how well-intended—is probably a hindrance in the long run. Government should be leery of aiding inferior businesses or activities at the expense of successful businesses. Government should not reward failure. Further, it is a reasonable inference that the best regulation is done at the lowest level of government rather than at the highest, as this puts the activity closer to the people.
• It is not selective intervention by government. Government should not punish large or successful firms just because they are large and successful. Government should not favor companies that are failing just because they are failing, or favor industries that may be dying or uncompetitive. Further, in general, government should not do social engineering or interfere with free markets by favoring technological changes—unless there is a clear national interest such as national defense.
But is a short list of what defines biblical capitalism:
the rule of law objective moral values to protect the innocent unalienable rights given by God equal treatment for all under the law private property rights encouragement of Christianity and its elements of mercy to others in society free enterprise without government distortion except to enforce the above
In terms of justice and mercy, the role of government is primarily—though perhaps not exclusively—to administer justice. We note that the biblical role of government is clearly spelled out in Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17. Here we see that the role of government is limited to punishing evil and rewarding good. There is no broad mandate for government in any other sense. The role of the church, on the other hand, is most certainly to administer mercy. So we conclude that there is a distinct difference between the biblical roles for church and state.
Applying these principles is not necessarily easy. But we need to try.
